GROWIN' UP^©

Live 04 Nov 1976 version

[spoken intro part 1]

??? stood stone-like at midnight suspended in my masquerade
And I combed my hair till it looked just right and commanded the night brigade, whoa!
I was open to pain and crossed by the rain and I walked on a crooked crutch
I strolled all alone through a fallout zone, came out with my soul untouched
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "sit down" I stood up
Ooooh, growin' up

The flag of piracy flew from my mast, my sails were set wing to wing
I had a jukebox graduate for first mate, she couldn't sail but she sure could sing
Pushed B-52, bombed 'em with the blues, my gear set stubborn on standing
I broke all the rules, strafed my old high school, never once gave thought to landing
I hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "come down" I said "shut up"
Ooooh, growin' up

Whoa, Big Man!

Aaaah!

[spoken intro part 2]

I took month-long vacations in the stratosphere, you know it's really hard to hold your breath
I swear I lost everything I ever loved or feared, I was the cosmic kid
My feet they finally took root in the earth, got me a nice little place in the stars
Swear I found the key to the universe in the engine of an old parked car
Hid in the clouded wrath of the crowd, when they said "pull down" I fooled around, "pull up!"
Ooooh, growin' up
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Growin' up

??? little heavy, with my guitar

These lyrics refer to the live 04 Nov 1976 performance at Palladium Theater, New York City, NY.

Check also the album's version (more details), the Tracks version, and the alternative version. The live versions are all pretty similar, and have no important lyrics variations. Only the spoken intro differs. Check them out: 10 Aug 1972, 31 Oct 1973, 05 Feb 1975, 30 Dec 1975, 07 Apr 1976, 27 Oct 1976, 23 Mar 1977, 24 Mar 1977, 31 May 1978, 25 Jun 1978, 05 Jul 1978, 07 Jul 1978, 04 Aug 1978, 09 Aug 1978, 20 Aug 1984, 14 Sep 1984, 22 Sep 1992, 24 Sep 1999, 19 Feb 2003, and 22 Jun 2003.

Spoken intro on 04 Nov 1976 at Palladium Theater, New York City, NY:

Part 1: I went to do my, did my audition with this song, I remember. Yeah, I remember as I went up right to the record building, you know, all these lawyers... Everybody had one but me (chuckles). Professor! Please! Aaaah, so what! (chuckles) 'Cause I was ??? stood stone-like at midnight...

Part 2: There we was. It was me and the Big Man and Miami. We were driving down this old dark road. All of a sudden we got a flat. We were in a '63 Impala, absolutely nothing done to it, a real piece of shit my old man gave me. It was the only thing we had to get around, and we were screaming down the back road. We must've been doing all of 55. Bam to the floor, bam (chuckles). That thing pfftzz as it was butting along (chuckles). Boom! Flat tire! Pull over, 'course we got no spare. It's a budget operation (chuckles). So, we tried to convince Miami to run with it (chuckles). While we got to a gas station, we didn't know where we was. It was dark, it was so dark, and there was no moon out. Everybody was hiding that night, there was just trees, there was this deep dark forest, couldn't see nothing. It was me... And we looked, and we looked way off and deep in the forest we saw this light, just sort of shining there. We said, somebody must live back there. We oughta go, go find out, you know, get some help, you know. So, we stomp back through the woods, right? Getting mud all over us, right? And there in the middle of forest was this old gypsy lady sitting around this fire. So we walked up to her, she looked at us and said, "got a flat tire, huh?" We got a little ??? nervous there, you know? Like how'd she know we got a flat tire, you know? It was like way out there on the road and we said "yeah". She said "what'd they send you suckers back here for, huh? What'd you want? You just tell the old gypsy lady, she'll straighten you out right now. You guys, firstly you guys look like uh, you guys look..." we looked like a bunch of bums, it was about six years ago, right? She says "first thing I do, you cats are not presentable", you know, "to do anything". So like she waved this, this stick, right? She waved this stick, and bam! Miami standing there in the red suit in the middle of the woods. Right? She waved it again. Boom! The Big Man's standing there in a white suit in the middle of the woods. She waved it again in front of me. Boom! Nothing happens. She says "don't work all the time" (chuckles), "some people gotta work at being bums, others are born that way", like (chuckles). So, I said "hey, gypsy lady, you owe me one" (chuckles), "you owe me one now" right? She said uh, "alright, alright", you know? She said "what can I, what can I do for you here?", you know? So like I thought real hard, you know? Said "well...", thought about a new transmission... Naw, ain't nothing's gonna help that old car out, right? That thing's a goner. Thought about, uh... She says "why you guy just don't tell me now? Wait a minute, you wanna be a king? You wanna be an emperor? You wanna own your own Pizza Hut? Just tell me, tell the gypsy lady, I'm right here". I said "well, well to be honest with you, not to pull any punches, what I really had in mind was uh, I think I could dig uh, I think I could uh, I think I'd like uh, I think I wanna be, I think I wanna be, I think I wanna be a Rock 'N' Roll star! Whoa!